House Sparrows ,Linnets and Swifts

4 Linnets today in front field the first of the year(about 2 weeks later than last year),2 Swifts on the 6thn were a week early.A Bright line Brown eye in the moth trap was the earliest by 2 weeks.House Sparrows are much in evidence nest building and the local Sparrowhawk was seen carrying food today.

Badger

had a few new sightings locally recently including my first Badger walking down the road when i came back from a late night moffing session,Fox,Rabbit and Noctule Bat.Swallows,House Martins are well in now and it was nice to hear Reed warbler at EGP the other day.there has been a good move of LBBGulls west last week with a few Herring Gulls in with them.

Not for the faint Hearted

Some good photos of himalayan Vultures cut and paste this ............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





"http://mbvtravel.com/burials-in-tibet-not-for-sensitive-souls"

RED KITE

Its taken about 37 years of looking to see a Red Kite locally and today, I saw it out of my living room window and then from the back garden a beautiful adult with forked red tail and grey head .An adult male Merlin watched hunting meadow Pipits,Buzzards ,sand Martins,displaying Sparrowhawk,Kestrels and ravens in another part of Calderdale,all in all a real red letter day..................

First Migrants

12 Sand Martins flew up the valley today whilst watching the local Sparrowhawk displaying ,I had 9 swallows and a House martin on the first and 24 Stock Doves in the local field.

Sunday

11 Stock dove in front field ,1 Redwing very fast calling North,8 Mipits north,3 LBBGull west and 20 canada Geese west.In the moth trap Hebrew character,1 Clouded drab,Common quaker and Chestnut.

Elland Gravel Pits (RIP)

Waded through the chavs along the new road that links Brighouse with elland today.Its allways been bad down there but now they can get in without getting there reebocks dirty there everywhere.The bit I liked best was the bit they cleared for the new duck feeding station very reminisent of the one at ogden.When they put the by - pass in so you can get to Tag loop with out getting your reeboks dirty the place is doomed.Anyway managed 9 Orange Underwings and no migrants yet.

Raining mipits

From first light today mipits were heading n/w in one's and two's and at about 8.15 82 dropped out of the sky and landed in the front field.One female Gooseander s/w 2 Canada Geese east and 2 lapwing n/e.Mipit numbers exceeded 150.

Sparklehorse RIP

Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse has committed suicide, according to a report from Rolling Stone. His family has released a statement reading, "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you."
The album,' Its a wonderful Life'with PJ Harvey is a classic.

Weekly round up

Anomalous Larvae
Made it to see the Ringed billed Gull on Sat and what a cracker it was.Pink footed Goose,Goosander and goldeneye,also there.Nuthatch and grey Heron on saville Park during the week and Pochards at EGP mid week.
Went looking for anomalous larvae on sat night and found 21 many thanks Bri leesey

Sunday

Good to see Little Owl this morning in local barn for the first time this year ,i was wondering if it had been lost in the cold weather.1 meadow Pipit high n/w 6 Herring Gull and 1 LBBgull east.A steady trickle of Woodpigeons and 4 Stock Doves west.Little else of note.A Tawny owl calling loudly this evening.

????????????????????

Sunday low fog and very cold,

225 Pink-footed geese west
1 Herring gull east and 4 west
5 Mistle thush n/e
1 Pied wag high north
2 Bullfinch high north
1 Lapwing blogging
19 House sparrow on bird table,40 Jackdaw and 30 Carrion Crow in field
Not a bad day

Dumping of toxic waste in the Amazon

The final judgment is imminent after a long legal battle between oil giant Chevron and brave indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon, who are seeking redress for the multinational’s dumping of billions of gallons of toxic waste in the rainforest.



If Chevron is forced to pay billions in damages, it’ll be a big step forward in bringing the world’s polluters to account. Staring defeat in the face, the oil giant has launched an aggressive last-ditch lobbying campaign to derail the lawsuit.

But Chevron’s newly-appointed CEO, John Watson, knows his corporation’s brand is under fire and is growing anxious about the risks of a public shaming campaign -- so let’s turn up the heat! Sign the petition calling on Watson and Chevron to clean up their mess in Ecuador, and it will be delivered to them, their shareholders and the US media -- click below to take action now:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/chevron_toxic_legacy_3/?vl

Garden Birdwatch

Very dull with little about in the garden,but it kept the kids quiet for 10 mins.
33 House Sparrow
41 Collared Dove
18 Starling
1 Goldcrest
3 Chaffinch
10 Magpie
4 Blckbird
1 Great tit
2 Blue tit
2 Dunnock
1 Robin
1 Wren
11 Jackdaw
6 Carrion Crow
4 Rooks
thats it...............

Spring is in the air.

The first singing Song Thrush,Dunnock,Chaffinch and Mistle thrush today ,along with collared doves copulating in the back garden these were the first sign's of spring here.70 + Pink footed geese headed s/e today about 11ish and a big movment of Gulls at about 3.45 all west contained Herring,GBB,BH and Common.

Greylag Goose

1 Greylag goose in and amongst the sheep today was a bit of a surprise ,6 stock Dove,2 Herring Gull,3 GBBGull and loads of BH and Common Guls on the move west/north /west,1 GS Woodpecker and 30 Collared dove were the only birds of note one Ladybird was also a surprise as I searched in vain for coleophora cases on the local gorse bush.
21 Redpoll(yes normal redpoll )at EGP.

Last night

Last night I was woken up by a fox making a right din.I looked out the window and it was chasing its tail round and round then jumping from right to left it looked as if it were going crazy.It then ran off up next doors drive.??2 Roe Deer walked across the field this morning and 1 Snipe flew round the field this morning a couple of times which makes 60 for the very slow new yesr list.

Not again

In the evening light ,again I saw the raptor that keeps eluding me.I am convinced it is a male Goshawk ,but its always flying away in dim light,Its just too large to be a sprwk as I see them every day around the house and fields,this is a Gos but is it an escapee from a local falconer or is the cold snap forcing it into pastures new there are some big woodpigs in the local wood.?? One decent view is all I need...............

EGP

It was well cold today at EGP and little birdwise on the lake as it was 98% frozen and the canal totally frozen,Managed 50+ lapwing,10 coot ,8 teal,10 gooseander,5Little Grebe,2 Song Thrush.9 herring Gull,2 GBBGull and a few Moorhen in and around the river.Total so far in Calderdale 56.....

SCRAP........!!!!!!!

Things are getting hungry with all this snow about.Today I watched a Carrion Crow attack a single Magpie it pinned it to the ground and started ripping it feathers out and wacking it in the head about 10 times.At this point 5 magpies started to surround the crow then 4 carrion crows turned up to back up there man.Then one magpie went for the crow which was still ripping feathers out of the magpie pinned on the deck.The Magpie broke free but the crow again caught it and pinned it down all the magpies and crows went for each other at this point and all hell broke loose,eventually all the magpies and Crows went off in different directions.I was amazed to see the initiall magpie fly off with little wrong with it except a missing tail feather.???....Corvids are hard but Wrens are really hard how do they survive in all this snow.??

In to the Valley

Took a walk down chelsea valley today in the deep snow(8inc must have fallen yesterday)60 Pinkfeet flew low east followed by my first GBBGull of the year.3 Great spotted woodpeckers,4 Bullfinch,1 Redpoll and 6 Greenfinch.Loads of common Gulls n/e and plenty of blackbirs on show.

Winter vis..??

Very little on the move this morning ..is this winter vis or just birds moving between valleys looking for food.?
Redwing 20 n/w
Fieldfare 8 west
Woodpigeon 25 east
Bullfinch 3 north
GS Woodpecker 1 east & 1 north
Collared doves 40 from valley roost to back garden
100+ Common & BH Gulls all directions mainly north

The one that got away......2

Another raptor today about 4.00ish (feeling in very good spirts after beating the Reds 1-0)was watched heading west above the local wood,grey above and white below with dark face could only have been an male Gos but I was'nt 100% so will have to leave it and hope to get a better views next time.........The two local Sparrowhawks were watched this morning huting in the valley and 2 Lapwings flew west.

A Good Start

Started off with two Great Northern Divers at scammonden,5 Bullfinch 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and 3 Goldeneye,Walshaw Dean produced nowt except 2 red Grouse.Managed another 20 species around and about.
Scaup Tufted duck, GCGrebe at EGP.Although everyone calls it Cromwell Bottom these days it will allways be Elland Gravel Pits to me.
70 species were seen last year from in and around the house,pretty good i reckon Honey Buzzard,Bewick's swans ,Common Buzzard,Tree Pipit,Crossbills,Snow Bunting,Spotted Flycatcher ,Teal,Pink Footed Goose ,Whitethroat but the bird/s of last year were the breeding Lesser spotted Woodpeckers at Lightcliffe it was the first time Id watched this elucive species at such close quarters a real treat.all the best for the new year......

Happy new year

Happy new year to one and all,lets hope its better than the last 12 months of crap.
Honey Buzzard ,Snow Bunting,Crosbills and Bewicks were the highlights of a poor year,

Calderdale Purple patch

Well with 2 Great Northern Divers,lapland Bunting and Ducks and Raptors it a real good time for local birders(pity I missed um all).Anyway today I looked out the window and noticed 5 white birds flying south they had to be small geese/snow???!!!!!then they flew west showing them to be short necked YBSwans.I have had loads of Whoopers over the house so texted them out as Whoopers,only to realise as I sent the text that they were far too small and flighty and could only have been Bewick's.Dohhhh,1 Sparrowhawk,55 Lapwing 30+ Common Gulls and 20 Fieldfare.

First trip out in December

Managed a quick look at EGP today with Sprwk,Buzzard,Scaup,Goldeneye,Great crested and little Grebes and a load of Tufted ducks,Back home 5 Bullfinch was a real treat.Also good numbers of Herring and Great BB Gulls on the move west.Peregrines at Whiteholme and Wainhouse Tower.

Merry X-mas

lapwings

You can tell its winter when the Lapwing flock from Queensbur moves to Northowram ,12 over the house today and a Little Owl sunning itself.
A town tick with 30 Lapwings low over the town centre and a female Sparowhawk having a tussle with a Carrion crow